People told us that taking a walk through the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali is simply an amazing thing to do. In addition to numerous crab-eating macaques, the forest's namesake monkeys that make their home in the area, there are three different temples inside the borders of the forest that are worth seeing. So we decided to check it out. After all, monkeys are cute, right?

Even before you get into the forest, you're going to encounter monkeys. There are always at least a few hanging out on the wall that runs along the appropriately named Monkey Forest Road, and they even venture a short distance into the southern end of Ubud Village, where they often lounge about in the middle of the street, oblivious to cars and motorbikes.

But it's not until you pay your entrance fee (30,000 rupiah for adults, 20,000 for kids—about $8.00 U.S. for our family of four) that you really get the full monkey experience. Something like 600 monkeys are said to live in the Monkey Forest, and they all want one thing: food. If you have food, or if they think you have food, or if they think anything you're carrying might have food, they're coming for you. They'll climb right up your body and grab your stuff.

Inside the forest vendors sell bananas you can hand-feed to the monkeys. A small bunch will set you back 20,000 rupiah, a large bunch is 50,000, and as soon as you've got a bunch of bananas in your hands, look out, brother, because you're a target. Sure, we thought it would be fun to feed these grabby little primates, but it got downright frightening very quickly.

We watched a guy offer a banana to a monkey, only to snatch it away as the monkey reached for it. He repeated this game over and over and the monkey got angrier and angrier until it was squawking and screaming at him. I was thinking, "Dude, just give the monkey the banana!" Then the monkey jumped on him and ripped the banana from his grasp before leaping off and perching itself on a statue to devour the banana with gusto.

The scariest moment came when we watched one monkey scamper up a man, climbing up his torso to perch on his neck. The man was carrying his infant son strapped to his back, and the monkey screamed at the kid, then tried to bite the child in the face. The man reacted quickly and threw the monkey on the ground. Fortunately, the kid didn't get bit, but all the nearby monkeys started up with a chorus of screaming.

It felt like one of those horror-movie moments when a party of teenagers are lost in the woods and stumble upon some cute thing and everyone says, "Aw, isn't that cute." Then it turns from cute to evil and kills them.

These monkeys are even mean to their own offspring. My daughters kept trying to give bananas to the baby monkeys, but the adults would rush in to snatch the food right from the baby's hands, leaving the baby nothing but a banana peel to gnaw on.

The monkeys became increasingly aggressive with every feeding encounter, and I was really regretting buying each of my daughters a small bunch of bananas.

When we ran out of bananas (and it didn't take long; it was the fastest 40,000 rupiah we ever spent), one of the monkeys grabbed my youngest daughter's colorful camera case and wouldn't let go. Now I've adopted a go-with-the-flow attitude for the trip, but this monkey scared the crap out of me.

As I tried to shake the monkey loose from the camera case (you're not supposed to touch the monkeys), all I could think of was Mean Monkey Monday 11. I'm not quite sure how, but I managed to dislodge the critter, and we high-tailed it out of there after that.

These monkeys are aggressive wild animals that have no fear of humans. People are bitten and scratched by monkeys every day in this forest (especially on the feet; wear closed-toed shoes). We were lucky to have escaped unscathed.

http://boingboing.net/2014/10/31/watch-hypnotic-drone-footage.html/feed0Furniture made from recycled boat-woodhttp://boingboing.net/2014/04/06/furniture-made-from-recycled-b.html
http://boingboing.net/2014/04/06/furniture-made-from-recycled-b.html#commentsSun, 06 Apr 2014 09:15:09 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=296475All From Boats is a furniture maker that uses lumber recycled from decommissioned wooden boats as raw materials. The individual wooden pieces are each distressed in their own way, and are purchased from sailors on a fair-trade basis.]]>All From Boats is a furniture maker that uses lumber recycled from decommissioned wooden boats as raw materials. The individual wooden pieces are each distressed in their own way, and are purchased from sailors on a fair-trade basis. They don't do any direct retail (the minimum wholesale order is $2000), but have a number of retailers around the world, including Tokyu Hands in Shibuya, Tokyo. They also sell raw planking for floors. The boats themselves come from around the Pacific Rim, mainly Bali and Indonesia. I saw a bunch of this stuff in person today and it's absolutely beautiful -- very well made and well designed.

http://boingboing.net/2014/04/06/furniture-made-from-recycled-b.html/feed0NSA authorized Australian wiretapping of US law firms in trade-disputehttp://boingboing.net/2014/02/16/nsa-sanctioned-australian-wire.html
http://boingboing.net/2014/02/16/nsa-sanctioned-australian-wire.html#commentsSun, 16 Feb 2014 17:00:40 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=287653sanctioned their surveillance a of US law firm representing the nation of Indonesia in a trade dispute with Australia.]]>sanctioned their surveillance a of US law firm representing the nation of Indonesia in a trade dispute with Australia. The NSA and their Australian counterparts have captured the master keys for Telkomsel, the Indonesian carrier, and have total access to its communications. It's more evidence that mass surveillance and Internet wiretaps are about economic espionage more than national security -- and more evidence that the NSA is a lawless organization with no respect for foundational principles like attorney-client privilege.
]]>http://boingboing.net/2014/02/16/nsa-sanctioned-australian-wire.html/feed0You need a 1.5 ton gamelan, and I know where you can get ithttp://boingboing.net/2013/01/02/you-need-a-1-5-ton-gamelan-an.html
http://boingboing.net/2013/01/02/you-need-a-1-5-ton-gamelan-an.html#commentsThu, 03 Jan 2013 00:45:25 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=203727
The wonderful Jon Singer has a weird sort of problem, and you are the sort of people who might help him.]]>
The wonderful Jon Singer has a weird sort of problem, and you are the sort of people who might help him. He is custodian of a traditional Javanese gamelan (~1.5t worth) and it needs a home. From Patrick Nielsen Hayden:

As some of you are aware, the small non-profit research institute that has employed Jon Singer for the past thirteen years is folding its tents, and he’s looking for a new situation. With luck he’ll find something that will make good use of his famously wide-ranging and eccentric talents.

Meanwhile, for reasons too complicated to explain—and yet perfectly Jon Singerish—he is currently spending over $200 a month to store a full-size gamelan, which is to say, a complete set of the instruments played by a traditional Javanese ensemble in both scales. Essentially, we’re talking about a ton and a half of bronze, plus various wooden bits and parts.

Fond though he is of traditional Indonesian music, Jon does not actually foresee having a constant need for this assemblage, and he would like it to find a good home. Interested parties should be prepared to either pick it up in person (Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC) or arrange for its carting and shipping. Inquiries should go to Jon Singer at jon@jonsinger.org.

As Patrick mentions, Jon also needs a job. He's a pretty amazing dude.

(Pictured: Part of Emory University’s gamelan, near-twin to Jon’s. Not pictured: Jon Singer’s friends’ complete lack of surprise upon hearing that his current logistical problem entails having become responsible for the storage of a one-and-a-half-ton set of highly specialized musical instruments.)]]>

http://boingboing.net/2013/01/02/you-need-a-1-5-ton-gamelan-an.html/feed22Marine nomad kid hitches a ride on a sharkhttp://boingboing.net/2012/05/20/marine-nomad-kid-hitches-a-rid.html
http://boingboing.net/2012/05/20/marine-nomad-kid-hitches-a-rid.html#commentsMon, 21 May 2012 05:09:36 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=161990
In National Geographic, a rare moment of marine nomadism, as a sea nomad child called Enal hitches a ride by holding onto the tail of his friend, a tawny nurse shark.]]>
In National Geographic, a rare moment of marine nomadism, as a sea nomad child called Enal hitches a ride by holding onto the tail of his friend, a tawny nurse shark. The picture is by James Morgan, submitted to the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest (Top prize: Photo expedition for two to the Galapagos with a National Geographic photographer).

Enal, a young sea nomad, rides on the tail of a tawny nurse shark, in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Marine nomadism has almost completely disappeared in South East Asia as a result of severe marine degradation. I believe children such as Enal have stories that could prove pivotal in contemporary marine conservation.